> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help-empuls.xoxoday.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Redemption Shop location lock

> Restrict the Empuls Reward Store to each employee's tagged country so shoppers only see products they can actually receive at their site.

The **Redemption Shop location lock** ties the Reward Store to the country tagged on each employee's profile. When it is on, employees see and can order only products available for their site country. The country switcher in the store becomes read-only, and any cart built for another country is emptied the next time the employee opens the shop.

The setting is off by default. Turn it on only when your program has a compliance, tax, or fulfilment reason to keep redemptions inside a single country per user.

## When to use it

Enable the location lock if any of the following apply:

* Your organization is regulated by a per-country reward policy (for example, tax reporting on merchandise, customs, or benefits classification).
* Fulfilment partners for your program only ship inside the country the employee works in.
* You want to prevent employees from redeeming vouchers that cannot be used in their region.

Leave it off if your program deliberately lets employees choose any country's catalog, for example to send cross-border gifts or to accommodate frequent travellers.

## Before you enable it

Confirm these three things before turning the lock on for a live program:

1. **Every employee has a site tagged on their profile.** The lock reads the country from the site attached to the user. An employee with no tagged site is treated as unlocked and continues to see the full catalog.
2. **Your employee sites map to catalog countries.** Empuls bridges the site country to the store country by name, with an ISO fallback. Sites with unusual or non-standard country names may not resolve; test a sample of users before rolling out.
3. **Employees may lose in-progress carts.** Any cart built in another country is cleared the first time the employee opens the shop after the lock is enabled. Warn users to check out or empty their cart before the change.

## Enable the location lock

Only Super Admins with access to Platform settings can change this setting.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open Platform settings">
    From the Admin Dashboard, go to **Platform settings**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Open Program settings">
    On the **Branding** page, open the **Program settings** tab and click **Edit** on the **Basic configurations** card.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set Redemption Shop location">
    In the edit dialog, find the **Redemption Shop location** dropdown and select one of:

    * **Restricted** — employees can only shop in their tagged country.
    * **Unrestricted** — employees can browse and order from any country in the catalog. This is the default.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Save">
    Click **Save**. The change applies to every employee on their next Reward Store visit.
  </Step>
</Steps>

The current value is shown as **Restricted** or **Unrestricted** on the Program settings tab so you can confirm the state without opening the edit dialog.

## What changes for employees

When the lock is set to **Restricted**:

* The country switcher in the top-right of the Reward Store shows only the employee's tagged country and cannot be changed.
* Product listings, search results, and product detail pages return items for that country only.
* A cart that was built for a different country is emptied when the employee reopens the shop, and the employee sees the same "items were removed" message Empuls shows when a catalog item is delisted.
* In an award or gift **collection**, the claim step only shows products available in the claimer's country. If the collection has no matching products, the employee sees a "No products available" message instead of a blank panel. Admins building the collection are not restricted.

The lock is enforced on every pricing path, including the mobile app and order creation, not just the web UI.

## Turn the lock off

Set **Redemption Shop location** back to **Unrestricted** in the same dialog and click **Save**. Employees regain the full country switcher on their next visit. Carts are not automatically restored.

## FAQ

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Does this affect employees who have no site tagged on their profile?">
    No. If Empuls cannot resolve a country from the employee's profile, the lock is bypassed for that user and the shop behaves as if the setting were **Unrestricted**. Make sure every employee has a site tagged before you rely on the lock for compliance.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Does the lock stop admins from building an award collection with products from other countries?">
    No. Authoring a collection is not restricted — admins can still add products from any country. The restriction only applies when an employee **claims** a collection or shops in the Reward Store.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Will employees lose points if their cart is emptied?">
    No. Points are only debited at checkout. Clearing the cart removes the selected items but does not spend points.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Does the setting apply to the mobile app?">
    Yes. The location lock is enforced on the same backend pricing endpoints the mobile app uses, so shopping, pricing, and order creation are all restricted to the employee's country.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>